What to do with old man John Smit?

A photo of John Smit taken during his more youthful days as a Bok captain.

With Pieter De Villiers announcing today that John Smit would be the captain of the Bok team that heads to New Zealand one question more than any other is on supporters’ minds:

How exactly will John Smit be used in New Zealand?

Sure, we all know he is the greatest leader of rugby players this country has ever produced (hat tip to Francois Pienaar) and an all around nice guy (hat tip to you John Smit), but the impressive performance of both Bismarck Du Plessis and Deon Fourie have made many question whether Smit would make it as first choice hooker on playing ability alone.

I think we can agree, probably not. He is being picked because he is to the Bok team what Yoda was to Luke Skywalker. Bloody important. The Bok team just isn’t the same without him. They crumble into jelly legged Straeuli-era shadows of themselves without the ice-cool leadership of Barney.

So here are some options for PdV when it comes to finding a spot for our Yoda:

Start with Smit at hooker and move him to prop for the 2nd half when Bismarck Du Plessis is brought on.

Start with Bismarck and bring on John with ten minutes to go – or at any hint of a choke.

Waterboy and kicking tee bringer-onner. He could always whisper his magic words into the Bok huddle at that point (“Afraid of yourselves, do not be” or words to that effect)

Team Mascot – Victor could bring him out out of the team tunnel during the run-on and John could sit at the half way flag giving icey-stares to opposition players and performing secret hand-gestures to Victor Matfield throughout the game.

Well… I hope Rassie and PdV are working on some combination of the above. Any other ideas?